


Honey and Lemon

by abswrites



Series: Haikyuu Meet Cutes [6]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/M, Fluff, Meet-Cute, Pets, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27461185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abswrites/pseuds/abswrites
Summary: Your new neighbor’s dog has been keeping you up at night. He’s too adorable to stay mad at, though. Oh yeah, and the dog’s pretty cute too.
Relationships: Yamaguchi Tadashi/Reader
Series: Haikyuu Meet Cutes [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988617
Comments: 4
Kudos: 92





	Honey and Lemon

You woke up to the sound of barking. Again.

Groaning, you rolled over and grabbed your phone to check the time. 3:54 AM.

Ever since your new neighbor had moved in across the hall, it seemed like their dog had made it a personal mission to keep you from getting any sleep. 

From her spot on the bed next to you, Akemi hissed warningly. Seemed like your cat wasn’t all that pleased either. 

You were about to try to go back to sleep when you heard a voice – most likely the new neighbor’s.

“Hayate,” he was saying earnestly, “please be quiet! Come on, buddy, we just moved in here, and if you keep that up all the neighbors will hate us, and we might get kicked out—”

His voice lowered again, but hearing his words, your anger was somewhat mollified. At least he seemed to be trying to fix the situation. The barking subsided momentarily, and you took the opportunity to smash your pillow over your head and drift back to sleep. 

* * *

“I’m home,” you called, pushing open your apartment door. Akemi leaped up from where she’d been perched on the table and wove herself in between your feet, purring. “Well, at least someone’s happy to see me,” you cooed, scratching her ears. “Did you miss me while I was at work?”

Stepping into the kitchen to refill her water bowl, you were interrupted by a knock at the door. You and Akemi shared a confused look. You weren’t necessarily a recluse, but not many people usually dropped by. Especially not unannounced.

Opening the door, you were met with a freckled man, a shy smile on his face, and a large box in his hands. 

“Hi there!” he said cheerily. “I’m Yamaguchi – I just moved in across the hall.”

“Ah, yes,” you said, crossing your arms. “The guy with the dog, right?”

Yamaguchi winced at your words. “Yeah…sorry about that,” he said, bringing a hand up to rub the back of his neck sheepishly. “He’s usually not that loud, I don’t know what’s been up with him lately.”

You were still a little pissed, but he just looked so sad that you couldn’t find it in yourself to be rude to him. “Nah, that’s okay. I know a thing or two about difficult pets,” you said. You gestured behind you to Akemi, who had reclaimed her perch on the counter.

Yamaguchi’s eyes lit up in realization. “Oh, you have a cat? That makes more sense.”

“Is that a problem?”

“No, of course not! It’s just…my dog, Hayate, he’s not a huge fan of cats. That must be why he’s been barking so much lately.”

You recoiled, eyes narrowing. “Are you saying it’s my fault your dog is so loud?”

Yamaguchi stared at you, a panicked look on his face. “No, that’s not what I meant at all! What I was trying to say was—” he paused, taking a deep breath. “Okay, wait, let me start over.”

Truth be told, you had no idea where he was going with this, but he was pretty cute, and you were vaguely entertained, so you waited for him to compose himself. 

“Hi, I’m Yamaguchi,” he began. “I just moved across the hall from you. I wanted to apologize for how loud my dog has been at night, so I brought you these.”

He handed you the box in his hands, and you glanced down at it confusedly.

“I baked you some muffins,” he clarified at your look. 

Well, you weren’t expecting that. “Oh, thanks,” you said, straight-faced, “but I’m allergic to muffins.”

You maintained your composure for a few more moments, but upon seeing Yamaguchi’s stricken face, you burst out laughing. “Sorry, dude, I was just fucking with you.” Maybe you were being a little mean, but you had been sleep deprived for almost a week now. And maybe his reactions were just a little bit cute. “Thank you for these, you didn’t have to do that.”

Yamaguchi chuckled, finally seeming to lighten up once he realized that you weren’t actually mad at him. “It was no trouble! Actually, I wanted to get your opinion on something.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“I was thinking, since it seems like Hayate seems to be really worked up because you have a cat, what if we introduced them? That might solve the problem. But, I mean, you’re totally free to say no – I’m sure you’re busy and I don’t even know if it’ll work–”

“No, that’s a good idea,” you cut him off. “Like exposure therapy, yeah? I’m free now if you wanna bring him over.”

Yamaguchi looked a bit shocked that you not only agreed to his idea, but also readily invited him over. 

“Okay!” he said. “Lemme go grab him.”

As he headed back to his apartment, you stepped back into your own. You placed the box of muffins on the counter – they looked so good, how come he was cute and good at baking, what the fuck – and gave your apartment a cursory once-over, making sure there wasn’t anything on the floor. You were used to cats, after a few years living with Akemi, but you didn’t have any experience with dogs. If it meant you could get a good night’s sleep again, though, you were willing to try anything. 

Turning back to the door, you suddenly were hit by approximately 150 pounds of fur. Loud barking filled your ears as Hayate tackled you to the floor.

“I am so sorry!” Yamaguchi said imploringly as you groaned under Hayate’s weight. He rushed over to help pull him off of you. “Sorry, sorry, he’s just really friendly.”

“Just like his owner, huh?” you giggled. “It’s cool, I was just a little taken aback.” Pushing yourself into a sitting position, you scratched Hayate behind his ears. “He’s really cute!” 

You couldn’t help but notice that his puppy dog eyes also looked just like his owner’s. 

Yamaguchi dropped down on the floor next to you, but Hayate ignored him in favor of nudging your hand for more pets.

“I can’t believe this,” Yamaguchi grumbled good-naturedly. “Betrayed by my own dog.”

You reached out to pat him on the back consolingly when you spotted Akemi leaping off of the counter. Keeping a cautious eye on Hayate, who hadn’t seemed to have noticed her yet, she made her way over to Yamaguchi, nudging him affectionately.

“Looks like we have that in common,” you said, laughing.

While he pet her, Yamaguchi looked up at you questioningly. “Should we introduce them?” he asked, as if he was talking about children and not animals.

You nodded in agreement. “I think we should.”

Reaching out, you grabbed Akemi, while Yamaguchi tugged on Hayate’s collar. 

“Okay, so how do we do this?” you asked.

“Maybe we should just let them, you know, feel each other out.”

“Alright,” you said, gently placing Akemi down. She eyed Hayate wearily but didn’t make any moves to run away or attack. That was a good sign. 

Slowly, Yamaguchi let Hayate step forward, still keeping a grip on his collar. Hayate approached Akemi, wagging his tail all the while.

“He looks happy,” Yamaguchi whispered to you, as if he didn’t want to interrupt. 

“So does she,” you whispered back, leaning towards him. 

Yamaguchi’s gaze snapped to yours. “Maybe he just thinks she’s really pretty,” he said shyly.

Your breath hitched in your throat. You got the feeling he wasn’t talking about the pets anymore. 

“Maybe she just thinks he’s really cute,” you replied, and you had the pleasure of watching his face redden slowly. 

“Maybe he’d like to do this again sometime,” he persisted.

“Maybe she would too.”

He fell silent at that, watching Akemi slowly lean in and nudge her head against Hayate playfully.  
  
“Wait,” he said suddenly, “were you talking about them? Because I wasn’t, and I just thought – well, maybe I wasn’t making it clear enough and–”

You laughed. “Okay, well now she definitely thinks he’s really cute.”

Yamaguchi dropped his red face into his hands, groaning. “Sorry, I really suck at this. And I know I came over here to apologize, and I probably didn’t do a very good job of that, but I do wanna see you again. I mean, if that’s okay with you.”

“That is definitely okay with me,” you said, grinning at him. 

Still sheepishly avoiding your eyes, Yamaguchi reached out to lightly stroke Akemi. Hayate, upset at the loss of his playmate’s attention, bounded back over to you, eager for more affection. Laughing, you grudgingly obliged, softly running your hands over his fur. 

Maybe dogs were growing on you, just a bit. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! come chat with me on [tumblr](https://abswrites.tumblr.com/) :)


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